QUILTsocial Winter 2015-15 Issue | Page 13

Sewing a Snowflake Mug Rug As I sat in my studio the other day thinking about my projects for this week, I kept looking at the winter wonderland outside. So, I grabbed my camera and went for a walk down my driveway. I live in the forest which provides ample photo ops no matter the season. Growing up on the prairies I saw many snow storms, but nothing like the sudden squalls of the eastern snow belt that leave everything looking fresh and white. I decided that I should be sewing a snowflake mug rug in a winter palette! Winter hues What is a mug rug? It’s a small quilt ranging in size from 4" x 7" to 8" x 12" inches. It can be square or rectangle. The purpose of a mug rug is to hold your cup of coffee/tea, but also a plate with a little tasty treat. Winter hues To begin, I gathered up a few pieces of fabric that coordinated – these hues are very cool looking – the steel blues of winter. They also have a gray look to them which means they have had a tone added. Toning a fabric is when gray has been added to the pure hue. For the background, I chose a lighter valued fabric so the appliqué will stand out. This fabric has had a tint added to the pure hue, which means white has been added to create a lighter value of the pure hue. The darkest fabric is a shade. A shade is when black is added to the pure hue to create a darker valued fabric. Fabric strips sewn into pairs Strip set cut into smaller pieces Sewing the pieces together The best way to build a checkerboard design is to sew strips together. Then, cut those strips into strips and then sew them into one piece of fabric. From the 3 darker print fabrics, I cut 8 strips, each 1½" x 10". Then, I cut the same sized strips from the other fabrics – 2 from the dark blue stripe, 2 from the swirls and 4 from the fabric that looks like the cracks in frozen ice. I started sewing the strips into pairs on the Pfaff Ambition 1.0. Then, I sewed the pairs into sets of 4. This is what is called a strip set, which speeds up the piecing process when small squares are needed. Not to mention it makes everything a lot more accurate! Once the strip sets were made, I cut them into 1½" x 4½" rectangles. Eight are required in total for my project as it is going to be 8" x 12" when finished. Instruction photos by Jennifer Houlden 13